5/5 (3)

Whenever I order Chicken dum biriyani in any restaurant, I try to figure out what all ingredients it contains. Some restaurants produce the most flavorful biriyani’ s. I tried to recreate the same at home and was pretty successful in bringing out those flavors.

One thing i insist upon for this biriyani is the chicken marination time. I have marinated the chicken overnight (or 8 hours recommended). This marination helps all the flavors seep into the chicken. The chicken is moist and soft after cooking. Also I soak the chicken in diluted vinegar for 5 minutes before marination , in order to remove the poultry smell from the chicken.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Marination: (section 1)

1. Shahi jeera – 2 teaspoons
2. Ginger Garlic paste – 2 tablespoons
3. Chicken Drumsticks – 4 or 5
4. Coriander + Mint leaves – 2 handfuls (chopped)
5. Freshly squeezed lemon juice – 2 tablespoons
6. Ghee – 1 tablespoon
7. Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
8. Red Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
9. Salt – 1.5 teaspoons
10. Chicken Masala powder – 1 tablespoon
11. Garam Masala powder – 1 teaspoon
12. Cinnamon – 1 inch stick
13. Green Cardamom, Cloves – 2 each
14. Oil – 2 tablespoons
15. Yogurt – 3/4 cup
16. Green Chilli – 1 (big)

For Cooking Rice: (section 2)

1. Basmati Rice – 2 cups
2. Bay leaf – 2
3. Green chilli – 1 (big)
4. Black cardamom – 1
5. Black stone flower (called as Kalpasi in tamil) – a pinch
6. Star anise -1
7. Cinnamon stick – 1 inch
8. Cloves – 3
9. Oil – 1 tablespoon
10. Salt – 1 tablespoon

Other Ingredients:

1. Onions – 1 cup (thinly sliced , for making fried onions)
2. Oil – 1 tablespoon (for making fried onions)
3. Saffron milk – 1/4 cup
4. Ghee – 1 tablespoon (for the final step)
5. Kewra water – 1 teaspoon

Method:

1. First step is the chicken marination : Soak the chicken in diluted vinegar for 5 minutes, then clean them thoroughly and set them aside. Then take a vessel in which you plan to do the chicken biriyani and add the items in section 1 under ingredients and mix well (except chicken). The vessel should be deep and wide with a thick bottom along with a lid.

Then do the taste test. If you feel that the spices and salt level is correct, proceed to add the chicken and mix well. Cover with tight lid and refrigerate overnight.

Next day morning…

2. Next day morning, start to make the fried onions. I made it using Air fryer. You can also try the pan fry method which consumes more oil. I added all the sliced onions and 1 tablespoon oil into the Air fryer basket and fried for 20 minutes at 350°F.

3. Next step is cooking the rice: Before cooking the rice, wash and soak it in water for 30 minutes. Also soak a generous pinch of saffron in 1/4 cup warm milk. After 30 minutes, heat a large pot, add oil, bay leaf, green chilli, black cardamom, kalpasi, star anise, cinnamon stick, cloves(from section 2) and saute for few seconds. Then add water to 3/4 of the height of the vessel and allow it to boil. After the water boils, add the rice and 1 tablespoon salt and cook for exactly 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, filter and keep the rice ready.

4. Now place a dosa tawa on a heat source and heat it.

Then take the marinated chicken vessel, add half of the fried onions and coriander + mint leaves.

5. Then add the basmati rice over this layer. Also add the remaining fried onions, coriander + mint leaves, 1/4 cup saffron milk, 1 tablespoon ghee, 1 teaspoon kewra water.

6. Close it with a lid. Also seal the rim of the vessel and the lid with chapathi dough (Mine is a tight fitting lid, so I didn’t use the dough). Place this vessel on the heated tawa and reduce the heat to “low-medium”. Cook for 30 minutes.

7. After 30 minutes, remove from the heat source and allow it to cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the lid and mix the contents.

Serve it with onion raita!